The present invention relates to agricultural machinery generally known under the category of shredders, namely equipment used to dispose of stalk of cotton or other crops which are left in the field after harvesting. More particularly the invention concerns root and stalk shredders which are adapted both to pluck the complete plant from the ground--or what's left of it after the harvest--and to process same through a shredding operation wherein the cut plants are left in the field in the form of chips.
There are known in the art of harvesting shredders for cotton or similar crops which comprise plowing means for digging out the stalk, which are then lifted and transferred into a rotary cutting device for shredding the stalks and roots (cf. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,015,667 and 3,160,214), with or without further ground treating means for rebedding the soil.
According to another known method, the plant stems are first cut short to the ground and then conveyed to the shredding process while plowing means are used for digging the roots and preparing the ground for the next season's crops.
These known devices and equipment are complicated in construction and expensive in operation and service; particularly with respect to the last-mentioned example, they do not solve the problem of nematodes, which are left in the roots and may affect the next season's crops. It is thus the general object of the present invention to provide equipment for the purposes in question that will be of simple construction and operation and less costly.
It is a further object of the invention to employ, rather than digging or plowing means, pulling or plucking means that will operate without forceful contact with the ground. It is a further object of the invention that the equipment provided will include two stages of shredding, coarse and fine, whereby the cut stalk will be conveyed from one stage to the other in an airborne fashion.